How were you diagnosed? Symptoms? Ultrasound etc?
My mom is waiting to have a d&c so they can take a biopsy to see if she has cancer. She had a thick endometrium of 6.7mm , and some spotting that only lasted a day we are all worried sick about her and she is already living as if she has it . I’m just wondering , if she does have it and it did spread to her ovaries and other places could the ultrasound find that? Also what were ur symptoms ? What was the thickness? And how did they diagnose the stage?
Comments
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Aliasalb, I am sure you, your
Aliasalb, I am sure you, your mother, and entire family are very concerned. While there may be a slight difference of opinion on this page, a D&C is good on assisting in diagnosing uterine cancer. I would recommend you all trying (it is difficult) to take this one day at a time and find out what is going on. IF, and that is not known yet, it is cancer, your mother will want to work with a gynecologic oncologist - her gyn should be able to refer her, but if not, she will have to ask.
Irregular bleeding post menapause is usually a sign of an issue, however a woman does not have to be post menapause.
The D&C is usually the first step and only after the tissue is looked at can they determine if she has cancer and the gyn onc will make a plan. Please let us know she is doing and what the outcome is. There is a wealth of information on these pages and the women here are wonderful.
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November/December 2018:
November/December 2018: Spotting. Had spotting for two months. It disappeared sometimes and then it would come back.
January 2019. Went for a physicial. Primary physician sent me to have abdominal and transvaginal ultrasounds. Thickened endometrium 10mm, somewhat heterogeneous. But there was nothing else suspicious. They even said "smalish size uterus". Ovaries were OK. No masses. So I guess ultrasounds do give you an idea of what's there, or not?
February 2019. Gynecologist visit. Pap smear normal. Got a biopsy a few days later. Was told 3 weeks later that there was not enough tissue for a biopsy (a whole month went by!).
March 2019. Pre-admission tests for a D&C; then the actual D&C. I had an appointment for results for April 10, but my gynecologist wanted to see me right away, so I knew results were not good. Diagnosed with adenocarcinoma FICO type 3 (the garden variety of uterine cancer, but aggressive). My gynecologist said she couldn't treat me anymore; picked up the phone herself and called the gynecologist oncologist they had in their team for these cases.
April 2019. Scans were done for the hysterectomy and I had two nodules on my lungs (surprise) and a tiny cyst in my liver; but they could see on those scans that everything else was clear. Had hysterectomy April 15 and doctor came back next day to tell me that lymph nodes they took out came out clear and that I had no spread. Stage 1a (you get the actual stage at the hysterectomy; I know some doctors try to guess it ahead of time).
June 2019. Got preventive brachytherapy.
Watching lung nodules now with CT scans every 3 months, but they just moved me to 6 months watch for those.
Please try to take it easier. I know I got cancer, but a lot of the biopsies and D&Cs don't come out positive for cancer.
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I've experienced both good/bad news via D&C/hysteroscopy
In 2007 I had post menopausal bleeding and an ultrasound showed a thickened endometrial stripe of 5 mm. A polyp was removed during the D&C/hysteroscopy and the pathology showed the polyp was benign. No further action was needed.
In 2016, I had vaginal bleeding again. The ultrasound again showed a thickened endometrial stripe – this time it was larger at 2.0 cm. I had also lost about 7-8 pounds without trying. The tissue removed during the subsequent D&C/hysteroscopy showed that I had cancer. I then had surgery, chemo and radiation.
Should the D&C/hysteroscopy indicate cancer, it will identify the type of uterine cancer (there are different types). But as NoTime explained, the stage will be identified during the following hysterectomy.
In the meantime, keep in mind that most cases of post-menopausal bleeding are not caused by cancer.
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Thank you so much for urNoTimeForCancer said:Aliasalb, I am sure you, your
Aliasalb, I am sure you, your mother, and entire family are very concerned. While there may be a slight difference of opinion on this page, a D&C is good on assisting in diagnosing uterine cancer. I would recommend you all trying (it is difficult) to take this one day at a time and find out what is going on. IF, and that is not known yet, it is cancer, your mother will want to work with a gynecologic oncologist - her gyn should be able to refer her, but if not, she will have to ask.
Irregular bleeding post menapause is usually a sign of an issue, however a woman does not have to be post menapause.
The D&C is usually the first step and only after the tissue is looked at can they determine if she has cancer and the gyn onc will make a plan. Please let us know she is doing and what the outcome is. There is a wealth of information on these pages and the women here are wonderful.
Thank you so much for ur reply
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Hello and thank you for urPrimavera said:November/December 2018:
November/December 2018: Spotting. Had spotting for two months. It disappeared sometimes and then it would come back.
January 2019. Went for a physicial. Primary physician sent me to have abdominal and transvaginal ultrasounds. Thickened endometrium 10mm, somewhat heterogeneous. But there was nothing else suspicious. They even said "smalish size uterus". Ovaries were OK. No masses. So I guess ultrasounds do give you an idea of what's there, or not?
February 2019. Gynecologist visit. Pap smear normal. Got a biopsy a few days later. Was told 3 weeks later that there was not enough tissue for a biopsy (a whole month went by!).
March 2019. Pre-admission tests for a D&C; then the actual D&C. I had an appointment for results for April 10, but my gynecologist wanted to see me right away, so I knew results were not good. Diagnosed with adenocarcinoma FICO type 3 (the garden variety of uterine cancer, but aggressive). My gynecologist said she couldn't treat me anymore; picked up the phone herself and called the gynecologist oncologist they had in their team for these cases.
April 2019. Scans were done for the hysterectomy and I had two nodules on my lungs (surprise) and a tiny cyst in my liver; but they could see on those scans that everything else was clear. Had hysterectomy April 15 and doctor came back next day to tell me that lymph nodes they took out came out clear and that I had no spread. Stage 1a (you get the actual stage at the hysterectomy; I know some doctors try to guess it ahead of time).
June 2019. Got preventive brachytherapy.
Watching lung nodules now with CT scans every 3 months, but they just moved me to 6 months watch for those.
Please try to take it easier. I know I got cancer, but a lot of the biopsies and D&Cs don't come out positive for cancer.
Hello and thank you for ur reply. I’m confused though how could you have stage 1 if it was already in your lungs? Or did i misunderstand something?
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Hello and thank you forcmb said:I've experienced both good/bad news via D&C/hysteroscopy
In 2007 I had post menopausal bleeding and an ultrasound showed a thickened endometrial stripe of 5 mm. A polyp was removed during the D&C/hysteroscopy and the pathology showed the polyp was benign. No further action was needed.
In 2016, I had vaginal bleeding again. The ultrasound again showed a thickened endometrial stripe – this time it was larger at 2.0 cm. I had also lost about 7-8 pounds without trying. The tissue removed during the subsequent D&C/hysteroscopy showed that I had cancer. I then had surgery, chemo and radiation.
Should the D&C/hysteroscopy indicate cancer, it will identify the type of uterine cancer (there are different types). But as NoTime explained, the stage will be identified during the following hysterectomy.
In the meantime, keep in mind that most cases of post-menopausal bleeding are not caused by cancer.
Hello and thank you for replying . what stage were you diagnosed with? And how many rounds of chemo did you need? Did the polyp in 2007 bave anything to do with cancer?
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I have lung nodulesAliasalb said:Hello and thank you for ur
Hello and thank you for ur reply. I’m confused though how could you have stage 1 if it was already in your lungs? Or did i misunderstand something?
Although I've never smoked, I have lung nodules, but I've found out they're very common. Some people have them and they are found by accident when CT scans are done. I almost never went to the doctor before. I'm 57. Spent all those years very healthy until this year. A cold or two once a year; healthy weight and no illnesses otherwise. I never had an operation before, or anesthesia for anything. If not for this cancer, I wouldn't have found out about the lung nodules.
They're stable. I had two at 2mm and 4mm in March before the operation, and they were the same size in September and now in December. It doesn't have to be a metastasis for sure. Also, they could always be a second kind of cancer, unrelated. I've read about people who have had two unrelated cancers at the same time. I'm glad they've found them because they can be monitored now.
My tumor was less than a centimeter and inside the uterus. No spread anywhere else, so stage a1 was what I got.
A recurrence is always possible, even from stage 1a, but some people never have one.
I had genetic testing done and I had one gene (for breast cancer) come out as a possible mutation (one of those undetermined things), so they're checking me out every six months with mammographies, too.
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See my profile
The 2007 polyp was not related at all to the 2016 diagnosis of cancer. After the hysterectomy I was diagnosed as Stage 3B, uterine carcinosarcoma (one of the rare types of uterine cancer). Because this cancer is a rare type, the medical oncologist proposed a chemo treatment plan in two phases for a total of eight chemo cycles. I then had radiation as a preventative measure afterwards. You can read more about my treatment history by clicking on my user name (cmb) under my picture and reading my profile.
But please remember that I was diagnosed with an unusual form of cancer, so my chemo plan wasn't the typical program prescribed for most women with uterine cancer. And even if your mother is eventually diagnosed with cancer, the most common type of uterine cancer is often treated with surgery only, if caught early enough.
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You came to a good place
Sorry to hear about your Mother's issues. Here are some statistics that might put things in perspective. About 1 in 10 biopsies or polyps are positive for cancer. About 80% of those are endometrioid endometrial cancer. It is a slow growing type and is usually discovered early. The other ~20 % are high grade endometrial cancer. These are faster growing and have higher stage at staging. They are rare. Your mother will have a biopsy and if there are abnormal cells she will be referred to a gyncologiial oncologist. This person will do a total hysterectomy and peolvic wash, lymph node biopsy and omentum biopsy. This will determine the type and stage. You have lots of time to read about this. And ask questions. You an read my bog to read my story.
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I was 63 and just didn't feel
I was 63 and just didn't feel right - sometime I'd have a cramp in my lower belly or feel like I was full when I hadn't eaten. I went to a new doctor who told me in her Communist accent, "You get old." I KNEW something was wrong so I went to see another doctor who said if I thought something was wrong, it probably was. She sent me to a gynecologist who did a biopsy of my uterus. It came back as regular old uterine cancer. She set me up with an oncologist/gynecologist who did the hysterectomy. I had an appointment in three weeks but the next week, his office called and asked if I could come in the next day. I already knew I had cancer so I didn't understand why they wanted to see me so soon. My oncologist/gynecologist explained the type of cancer I had was rare and very aggressive - UPSC. He scheduled me for a port with chemo to start the next day. He hadn't taken any lymph nodes so they didn't know if it had spread. I had a CT scan and chest x-rays and luckily they found nothing else. Unfortunately, I was one of those people that had a really bad reaction to the chemo and only made it through three chemos. That was over four years ago and, knock-on-wood, it hasn't recurred.
Good luck to your mother and as others have said, don't get too far ahead of yourself. The waiting drives you nuts but if she does need additional treatment, PLEASE come back here to get additional information. I so wish I had found this place before my chemo. I suffer from terrible neuropathy and probably wouldn't have if I had known about icing and other treatments available. These ladies here are just a wealth of information!
Love,
Eldri
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I was very fortunate my
I was very fortunate my garden variety uterine cancer was found very early - stage 1a/grade 1. Only required a hysterectomy. Will have 7 years NED January 2020.
I was post menopausal at 55 when I had light spotting after my mother's passing. I attributed it to stress and a UTI.
A few months later I passed a huge clot at work...out of nowhere. I knew something was wrong. Saw my regular gynecologist who confirmed cancer and referred me to a gynecological oncologist.
The waiting was the worst part...waiting for the biopsy results, waiting to see the oncologist, waiting for the surgery & waiting for the stage & grade after surgery. The things you imagine can make you crazy!
One of the best pieces of advice I got here is that cancer is a a treatable disease these days...not an automatic death sentence.
TRY to bear that in mind!
.Come back to update us. Warm regards!
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Thank you so much for yourForherself said:You came to a good place
Sorry to hear about your Mother's issues. Here are some statistics that might put things in perspective. About 1 in 10 biopsies or polyps are positive for cancer. About 80% of those are endometrioid endometrial cancer. It is a slow growing type and is usually discovered early. The other ~20 % are high grade endometrial cancer. These are faster growing and have higher stage at staging. They are rare. Your mother will have a biopsy and if there are abnormal cells she will be referred to a gyncologiial oncologist. This person will do a total hysterectomy and peolvic wash, lymph node biopsy and omentum biopsy. This will determine the type and stage. You have lots of time to read about this. And ask questions. You an read my bog to read my story.
Thank you so much for your reply !
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Yes the waiting has to be theEZLiving66 said:I was 63 and just didn't feel
I was 63 and just didn't feel right - sometime I'd have a cramp in my lower belly or feel like I was full when I hadn't eaten. I went to a new doctor who told me in her Communist accent, "You get old." I KNEW something was wrong so I went to see another doctor who said if I thought something was wrong, it probably was. She sent me to a gynecologist who did a biopsy of my uterus. It came back as regular old uterine cancer. She set me up with an oncologist/gynecologist who did the hysterectomy. I had an appointment in three weeks but the next week, his office called and asked if I could come in the next day. I already knew I had cancer so I didn't understand why they wanted to see me so soon. My oncologist/gynecologist explained the type of cancer I had was rare and very aggressive - UPSC. He scheduled me for a port with chemo to start the next day. He hadn't taken any lymph nodes so they didn't know if it had spread. I had a CT scan and chest x-rays and luckily they found nothing else. Unfortunately, I was one of those people that had a really bad reaction to the chemo and only made it through three chemos. That was over four years ago and, knock-on-wood, it hasn't recurred.
Good luck to your mother and as others have said, don't get too far ahead of yourself. The waiting drives you nuts but if she does need additional treatment, PLEASE come back here to get additional information. I so wish I had found this place before my chemo. I suffer from terrible neuropathy and probably wouldn't have if I had known about icing and other treatments available. These ladies here are just a wealth of information!
Love,
Eldri
Yes the waiting has to be the hardest part ... its been horrible honestly . How thick was your endometriam if you dont mind me asking ? And did you not bleed at all?
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Sorry for the loss of yourKathy G. said:I was very fortunate my
I was very fortunate my garden variety uterine cancer was found very early - stage 1a/grade 1. Only required a hysterectomy. Will have 7 years NED January 2020.
I was post menopausal at 55 when I had light spotting after my mother's passing. I attributed it to stress and a UTI.
A few months later I passed a huge clot at work...out of nowhere. I knew something was wrong. Saw my regular gynecologist who confirmed cancer and referred me to a gynecological oncologist.
The waiting was the worst part...waiting for the biopsy results, waiting to see the oncologist, waiting for the surgery & waiting for the stage & grade after surgery. The things you imagine can make you crazy!
One of the best pieces of advice I got here is that cancer is a a treatable disease these days...not an automatic death sentence.
TRY to bear that in mind!
.Come back to update us. Warm regards!
Sorry for the loss of your mother ... and i’m glad it was At stage 1. How thick was your endometriam if you dont mind me asking ? And thank you i really wish she would understand that it doesnt have to be a death sentence, she seems to have already given up the battle before it even started...
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Not a death sentence
I had Stage 3c, Grade 3 diagnosed in March 2016. Reoccurred in 2017. It's been a rough and rocky road but tell your mother it will be 4 years in March since my diagnosis and I'm still kicking, not as high, but still kicking! I'm 62.
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Im so sorry it came back. I’mCheeseQueen57 said:Not a death sentence
I had Stage 3c, Grade 3 diagnosed in March 2016. Reoccurred in 2017. It's been a rough and rocky road but tell your mother it will be 4 years in March since my diagnosis and I'm still kicking, not as high, but still kicking! I'm 62.
Im so sorry it came back. I’m confused though how does it come back if they do a hysterctomy? Did it come back somewhere else? Also how were you diagnosed?
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It came backAliasalb said:Im so sorry it came back. I’m
Im so sorry it came back. I’m confused though how does it come back if they do a hysterctomy? Did it come back somewhere else? Also how were you diagnosed?
In the peritoneal area. I had bleeding. Ultimately diagnosed with D&C and then hysterectomy. You can read my profile.
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,Was it continues bleedingCheeseQueen57 said:It came back
In the peritoneal area. I had bleeding. Ultimately diagnosed with D&C and then hysterectomy. You can read my profile.
,Was it continues bleeding and was it heavy or light? Also i see that they found a mass that they thought was a fibroid?
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Testing
I'm glad your mom is having a d&c rather than a biopsy like I had. I had visible cancer in my cervix that could be removed, but otherwise cancer can be missed by a biopsy if they don't sample from just the right spot.
A d&c can diagnose that 1) you definietly have cancer or not 2) the type of uterine cancer you have and 3) the grade of cancer you have. It cannot diagnose what stage you are. Keep in mind that cancer can be missed in some scenarios, but that some tests are better at detection than others like a d&c is less likely to miss something than a biopsy. Ultrasounds just point to the need for more testing and really aren't definitive about cancer's presense or absence by themselves.
It's important to know that there is more than one type of uterine cancer. Endometrial Adenocarcinoma is the most common type, whereas others such as UPCS, MMMT, and others are rarer and generally more aggressive and harder to cure. The type of cancer found can influence treatment decisions as you would want to treat an early stage, low grade aggressive type more aggressively than a like-staged/graded adenocarcinoma.
Grade indicates the degree of mutation the cancer cells have. Grade 1 cells most closely resemble normal cells whereas Grade 3 cells show the greatest degree of mutation and indicate a need for more aggressive treatment than lower grades. Grade 3 cancers carry higher risk of recurrence, so again, you kind of want to throw the kitchen sink at them during frontline treatment irregardless of stage.
If your mother is diagnosed with cancer and sent to a gyn-oncologist, the first visit will involve a pelvic exam and because most people want an idea of what they are facing, she may also get a "guestimate" as to what stage she is. It's important to understand that staging can only be finalized following surgery (hysterectomy) after they test all of the tissue that they remove. Any staging given prior to that is subject to change. Getting those pathology results can take anywhere from a week to several weeks. The wait for those results can be really hard, so you kind of need to be mentally prepared for that.
It's really hard to live with something like this hanging over your head. It takes a while to get diagnosed, wait for results, get needed appointments, have the surgery, recover, and finally get results that tell you if you need anything more or not. When you get a cancer diagnosis, you want it out, like yesterday, and you worry that it's continuing to spread while you are doing all of the waiting that is involved. Fortunately, this tends to be a slow-growing cancer so there is no need to panic about it. Waiting is something we have all had to do a lot of, so we can attest to the fact that it's not going to be a big factor in any outcome. I hope hearing that helps you and your mom to get through what you may be facing, but the best outcome from the d&c would be a negative diagnosis and I am hoping for that for her.
As scary as a cancer diagnosis can be, for this cancer, at least, they have made leaps and bounds in it's treatment and curability in recent years. It can be a long stretch of time to get from diagnosis, to surgery, and through treatment if it's needed, but it's doable and there is a lot of support for getting through it here. There are a lot of variables involved, so the experience and outcomes really vary from individual to individual depending on what they bring to the table. It's really important to remind onself of that if you make the mistake of Googling any statistics. Don't do it. They are often outdated and are generalities that really don't apply to individuals and only serve to scare people.
Your mom is really past the point of comparing endometrial thicknesses or amount of bleeding to others to give you the answer you want one way or the other. It's going to take the d&c to do that. If she is past menopause, any bleeding is not normal, so getting that investigated is what has to be done, so you all are doing the right thing in the right order. Dealing with cancer is always a one-step-at-a-time process that is more of a marathon than a sprint in regards to progress. It's not easy to deal with all of the anxiety over a prolonged period of time as you get through this. Hopefully it will help you to settle in for the long haul knowing how this works.
Hang in there and feel good that your mother has you looking out for her.
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Thank you for all of yourMAbound said:Testing
I'm glad your mom is having a d&c rather than a biopsy like I had. I had visible cancer in my cervix that could be removed, but otherwise cancer can be missed by a biopsy if they don't sample from just the right spot.
A d&c can diagnose that 1) you definietly have cancer or not 2) the type of uterine cancer you have and 3) the grade of cancer you have. It cannot diagnose what stage you are. Keep in mind that cancer can be missed in some scenarios, but that some tests are better at detection than others like a d&c is less likely to miss something than a biopsy. Ultrasounds just point to the need for more testing and really aren't definitive about cancer's presense or absence by themselves.
It's important to know that there is more than one type of uterine cancer. Endometrial Adenocarcinoma is the most common type, whereas others such as UPCS, MMMT, and others are rarer and generally more aggressive and harder to cure. The type of cancer found can influence treatment decisions as you would want to treat an early stage, low grade aggressive type more aggressively than a like-staged/graded adenocarcinoma.
Grade indicates the degree of mutation the cancer cells have. Grade 1 cells most closely resemble normal cells whereas Grade 3 cells show the greatest degree of mutation and indicate a need for more aggressive treatment than lower grades. Grade 3 cancers carry higher risk of recurrence, so again, you kind of want to throw the kitchen sink at them during frontline treatment irregardless of stage.
If your mother is diagnosed with cancer and sent to a gyn-oncologist, the first visit will involve a pelvic exam and because most people want an idea of what they are facing, she may also get a "guestimate" as to what stage she is. It's important to understand that staging can only be finalized following surgery (hysterectomy) after they test all of the tissue that they remove. Any staging given prior to that is subject to change. Getting those pathology results can take anywhere from a week to several weeks. The wait for those results can be really hard, so you kind of need to be mentally prepared for that.
It's really hard to live with something like this hanging over your head. It takes a while to get diagnosed, wait for results, get needed appointments, have the surgery, recover, and finally get results that tell you if you need anything more or not. When you get a cancer diagnosis, you want it out, like yesterday, and you worry that it's continuing to spread while you are doing all of the waiting that is involved. Fortunately, this tends to be a slow-growing cancer so there is no need to panic about it. Waiting is something we have all had to do a lot of, so we can attest to the fact that it's not going to be a big factor in any outcome. I hope hearing that helps you and your mom to get through what you may be facing, but the best outcome from the d&c would be a negative diagnosis and I am hoping for that for her.
As scary as a cancer diagnosis can be, for this cancer, at least, they have made leaps and bounds in it's treatment and curability in recent years. It can be a long stretch of time to get from diagnosis, to surgery, and through treatment if it's needed, but it's doable and there is a lot of support for getting through it here. There are a lot of variables involved, so the experience and outcomes really vary from individual to individual depending on what they bring to the table. It's really important to remind onself of that if you make the mistake of Googling any statistics. Don't do it. They are often outdated and are generalities that really don't apply to individuals and only serve to scare people.
Your mom is really past the point of comparing endometrial thicknesses or amount of bleeding to others to give you the answer you want one way or the other. It's going to take the d&c to do that. If she is past menopause, any bleeding is not normal, so getting that investigated is what has to be done, so you all are doing the right thing in the right order. Dealing with cancer is always a one-step-at-a-time process that is more of a marathon than a sprint in regards to progress. It's not easy to deal with all of the anxiety over a prolonged period of time as you get through this. Hopefully it will help you to settle in for the long haul knowing how this works.
Hang in there and feel good that your mother has you looking out for her.
Thank you for all of your information, honestly i’m just trying to calm her down by finding people who ended up not having cancer or by showing her that people with cancer had different symptoms. Yes it could be giving her false hope and yes i know she could end up having cancer , but if it lets her sleep and eat for the next few weeks then so be it . And i’m confused , how could you have a biopsy without a d&c? They are going to be doing a pap smear first (not sure why) and then after that they will do a d&c ro take a biopsy of her endometriam. The wait is horrible and her home has become the most deppressing place on earth and she hasnt even got the diagnosis yet but zi understanD i guess
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